This invention relates to a class of 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofurans wherein the benzo or the 3-phenyl portion of the molecule is bonded to an alkylene or an oxyalkylene group which is in turn bonded to a basic nitrogen atom or to the nitrogen atom of an (N-lower alkanoyl)amino group (which are active as antimicrobial agents) and processes for their use. The nitrogen atoms in the described substituents may be part of unsubstituted amino groups, mono- or disubstituted amino groups or cyclic amines. The invention also relates to pharmaceutically acceptable salts (e.g. acid halide and quaternary ammonium salts) of the basic compounds of the invention, to the use of the compounds of the invention as antimicrobial agents and to intermediates useful in their synthesis.
Compounds containing the 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofuran nucleus are known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,022,908; 4,048,323; 4,066,782; 4,067,993 and 4,124,704. Compounds containing said nucleus which also contain a basic nitrogen-containing group or an (N-lower alkanoyl)amino group are not known, however. More specifically, compounds wherein the aromatic benzo or 3-phenyl portions of the 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofuran nucleus is bonded to an alkylene or oxyalkylene group which is in turn bonded to a basic nitrogen atom or to the nitrogen atom of an (N-lower alkanoyl)amino group are not known.